Oprah Winfrey defends 2021 bombshell Prince Harry and Meghan Markle interview, faces backlash online

When Oprah Winfrey asked Meghan Markle if she was “silent or silenced” during a 2021 interview, it sent shock waves around the world.

Now the talk show host has doubled down and defended her question in an interview with Vanity Fair.

The Duke and Duchess of Sussex’s bombshell sit-down with Winfrey sent dominated global headlines when it was aired.

It was the royal couple’s first interview since stepping back from royal duties and relocating to the US, next door to Winfrey.

Among the most controversial was the Duchess of Sussex’s allegation that concerns had been raised about the colour of her baby’s skin.

“So we had in tandem the conversation of he won’t be given security, he’s not going to be given a title, and also concerns and conversations about how dark his skin might be when he is born,” Ms Markle told Winfrey at the time.

However, it was one particular question from Winfrey that set the internet on fire.

Ms Markle explained that she was an advocate who had fallen silent.

“I’ve always valued independence,” she said.

“I’ve always been outspoken, especially about women’s rights.

“I mean, that’s the sad irony of the last four years... I’ve advocated for so long for women to use their voice.

“And then, I was silent.”

In response, Winfrey asked, “Were you silent or were you silenced?”

To which, Markle replied, “The latter”.

Now, five years after that interaction, Winfrey sat down with Vanity Fair to discuss big moments in her career, including the royal interview.

“I don’t know where the hell that came from,” she said of her iconic hand gestures used during the question.

“I don’t think I’ve done it since.”

Winfrey said that she felt the question was an important one.

“I wanted to be clear, because was she silenced? Were people telling her not to talk?” she said.

“I said it for clarification, because I didn’t want later to hear, ‘Well, no, it wasn’t that. It really was that I was silenced. They wouldn’t let me talk’.

“So it was all for clarification.”

While sitting with Vanity Fair, Winfrey shed more light on what went on behind the scenes in the lead up to sitting down with the Duke and Duchess.

“They didn’t know, obviously, anything that I was going to ask them, but I had said to them ahead of time, ‘I’m going to try to cover everything,’ “ she said.

“This interview took three and a half hours.

“And, as is always the case for me, I want it to be a win-win for you.

“So I was just trying to carefully go through everything that had come up in the past.”

Since a clip of Oprah’s new comments was shared with Vanity Fair’s 9.8 million Instagram followers on Thursday Morning, it has had more than 1.4 million views.

And many of the commenters aren’t happy Winfrey has defended the interview.

“Oh please, that interview lacked of fact checking,” wrote one.

Another added, “can’t admit that that was probably one of her worst interviews ever...nothing was clarified but only looking for more sensation.”

One other commenter said Winfrey gave “zero pushback” on the claims.